Emerald Spire 10.0 - Sabreal's Research Team
After the few nights of rest, the four used the spire to teleport back to the fifth floor. When they arrived, there was no sign of anyone in the entryway. Before heading forwards, everyone left their water-sensitive belongings in the closet near the spire, particularly Amara, who had a variety of scrolls, notes and books with her. Ismail ordered his centipede to stay there as well, as it could not swim and evidence suggested much of the floor was flooded. Ignoring the crab-infested refuse room once more, they moved into the waterfall room yet again. A smaller elemental was moving about in the water, and the group destroyed it handily when it rose up to engage them. Deciding to investigate the upper area before moving into the completely submerged hallway, they made their way to the room with the shimmering portal, where they had fought the large elemental the day before. Once there they saw, sitting at a table, Jaquarl, accompanied by the shy crab-like creature Vibol. He stared at them with a measure of disbelief as they entered and Kormon took a few steps forward, vocalizing sarcastically about how they were passing through, mocking the extraplanar's words from their last encounter. Jaquarl stood quickly, hastily scooping up the papers he was working on before sliding towards a nearby alcove, moving out of sight. Kormon noticed a doorway to his right in another alcove as he entered the room. He ignored the extraplanars and moved towards the door. Forcing it open, the unexpected rush of water into the hallway sucked his feet out from under him and he was whisked down the submerged passage, unable to stop himself. With little else to do for it, the other three followed suit, swimming after Kormon down the turbulent hallway. Only Marin managed to keep his bearings, catching himself and exiting at a passing junction rather than getting swept to the hall's terminus like the others. He managed to open a submerged door without difficulty, and somehow stepped through it onto a dry platform: the doorframe was enchanted somehow, preventing water from flowing through and from pressure hindering the door. As he stood in the darkness, dripping wet and slightly confused, a sound of splashing caught his attention. A woman's voice spoke to him from the water that must have been further in the room: a cheerful voice with a lackadaisical accent. She introduced herself as Dayana, with a Y, a name she had made herself so that Materians could pronounce it and spell it, because spelling was important, before going on at length about her interest in humans and Materian things. Marin had a conversation with the hidden figure, who seemed to mean him no harm, though she openly admitted to a working relationship with Jaquarl. She was a member of a team that Lady Sabreal had sent here through the portals in order to study them, with the overall intent to fashion a permanent way to access Materia from her realm. Besides herself and Jaquarl, her supervisor was also there on the floor: a woman named Senethar, who would likely deal harshly with any humans she ran across because she was "grouchy and no fun". He asked about whether she had seen any other humans, but she regretted that she hadn't: she often worked in the back here, and hadn't seen much of anyone other than her coworkers. Marin learned that the hall he had come down ended in a single room with no other access, so he had little choice but to go back and follow his compatriots if he wanted to rejoin them. Dayana warned him to mind his safety, and with a mention of thanks to Dayana for her assistance, he stepped back into the flowing water and swam away. The others, meanwhile, had been thrown off a small ledge and sent splashing into a reservoir. Amara sent her Dancing Lights about, lighting the room and revealing four corner alcoves, raised slightly above the water, as well as a ladder to the left of the waterfall that they had fallen down, presumably leading to an exit. A voice demanded to know who they were and what they were doing, drawing their attention to one of the alcoves. It was another extraplanar: a blue-grey, fish-like person not unlike Jaquarl. She dismissed them offhandedly, ordering something to dispose of them. The "thing" was a construct: a robot that superficially looked like Clanky, from the ruin entrance, but it was no damaged, animate scrap. This robot had a shark-like tail, rather than legs, and seemed in peak condition as it swam at them, trident raised. The woman mostly ignored them, turning back to her business and trusting in the construct to handle things. Swimming in separate directions, the robot lunged at Amara, who it determined was the weakest swimmer. A deadly stab with its weapon caused her to scream and pass out, lying limp and bleeding in the water as she slowly sank below the surface. Kormon raged at the offense, climbing up onto one of the dry ledges and striking at the robot, drawing its attention. As he railed on its metal body, trading blows with it, Ismail, who had climbed the ladder to what they hoped was an escape, jumped back into the water and revived the dying Amara with a healing spell. He helped her to the ladder, staying away from the robot who was not faring well against its opponent. The extraplanar, Senethar, watched this and sighed, not liking how things were going: with a gesture, she summoned a humongous, angelic toad, whose tongue lashed out and grabbed Ismail, pulling him off the ladder and into the water again. He managed to yank free of the tongue before he was pulled into the amphibian's maw as Amara cast a summoning spell herself, throwing an eel into the fray to attack the frog. As this went on, suddenly Marin came launching down the waterfall, entering combat himself. Senethar summoned another water creature, but her summons were no match for the three Materian fighters that opposed them. Kormon destroyed the robot, sending it sinking to the bottom of the pool; the summons were banished, and Senethar was cornered. With a look of pure venom, she surrendered. Kormon and Marin approached her, climbing up onto her platform where she had a writing desk set up. She crossed her arms and sulked, refusing to respond to their questions, even when Marin began to destroy her notes, all written in a looping, confusing language beyond their comprehension, except for one, though it was still nothing either of them could currently decipher. Senethar spat at them, telling them to banish her or get out; she had little patience for them otherwise. They found a bag of belongings beside the desk, and claimed it for their efforts. Deciding to tie Senethar up, they began the process when a pair of splashes caught their attention. Jaquarl and Vibol had entered the room, bringing a warning to Senethar far too late: she snapped at him in a melodic, song-like strain that made no sense to their ears, but nonetheless held obvious contempt. Knowing that he was outmatched, he stayed motionless in the water, but sent Vibol up to the platform. The crab pleaded excuse as he tried to get around them, trying to collect the notes on the desk as he was ordered. Marin and Kormon discussed their plan, before eventually letting the meek creature pass. He thanked them, and picked up what still lay about. Marin flippantly passed over what notes he was still holding, though he kept the one that wasn't written in the alien tongue. With that, they asked where the exit was, and were informed that there were stairs down up the ladder and around the corner. With that, the explorers swam towards the ladder and took their leave; Jaquarl remained motionless as they passed by, though they heard him go to Senethar once they had left the room, and heard her yelling at him in their melodic alien tongue. Finding the stairs as they had been promised, the group moved a short ways away before stopping to regroup and divide the spoils from the satchel they had claimed. Amara recognized the writing on the recovered note to be a dialect of Reptilian, and explained that it appeared to be a half-written draft of a letter to someone, or something, called the "Circle of Vissik-Thar", though that name had no meaning to her. She suddenly started, realizing that she had left her belongings back at the entryway. The men had already thought of this, but unfortunately, there was no feasible way to make their way back up the flooded, rushing waterway that led them there. Their only hope was to keep moving down, and hopefully find the spire again soon so that they could teleport back before the extraplanars stole their things. Ismail muttered that the next floor was number six: the base of the wizard Zdislav. Even with that portent in mind, they agreed that there was only one option: go forwards. Category:Emerald Spire